Page 2 of Matteo
As I sank into the seat of the car, I didn’t need to look out the window.
That pastor’s eyes had followed me. I knew that he was watching our car depart and I desperately never wanted to ever see him ever again.
Two weeks later, vacation bible school had started. My mother had signed my sister Nora and I up. We both grumbled and grumbled.
“I know the two of y’all aren’t acting up?” My mother had asked looking at me in her rearview mirror.
“Mom, we’re the only teenagers going to bible school,” I’d crossed my arms.
She’d sighed over the sound of the car’s blinker as we made a left turn. “It’s only for the week. Dad will pick you up. I have shifts at the hospital.”
She’d been a nurse my entire life and I still hated it when she worked the night shift in the E.R. at Seattle Mercy Hospital. My mother had stories upon stories about her time in the emergency room that sometimes gave me nightmares. She always gave us the PG-13 version, but they still left me shaken.
“I think it’ll be fine,” Nora quipped.
My sister was such a damn square, she never made a wild decision in her young life.
“Shut up,” I rolled my eyes.
“No ma’am,” my mother quirked her eyebrow. “Apologize to your sister.”
Taking a deep breath, I mumbled an apology to her. Nora had stuck her tongue out at me before our mom saw.
“You’ll probably be the oldest girls there which means they’ll get you to help out with some things. I love you both and I’ll see you in the morning for breakfast.”
She’d pulled up to the front of the church. Other kids were going in. We exited our mother’s car and walked up the steps.
We’d gone down to the basement area and joined the other kids in a circle. Mrs. McIntyre was in a mood and had put on a Veggie Tales movie. Nora and I had groaned but tuned in. My sister, dressed in a sweatshirt and jeans had gotten comfy and put her head in my lap as I laid back against the brick wallpainted with biblical scenes like Noah’s Ark. A rainbow stretched the length of the wall along with different animals that had marched two by two onto the ship.
“Hey Rain,” Mrs. McIntyre came over a little later.
“Yes,” I’d looked up from playing with Nora’s hair that I slowly braided on one side.
I was starting to get better at braids.
“Pastor Justin asked for you. He thought you might like to make some copies on the computer upstairs….”
“Huh?” I thought I might have heard her wrong.
Pastor Justin…
“Yeah, he’s filling in for Reverend Jenkins for a month. He has to have surgery…look can you help out, I’m not that good on those computers?” Mrs. McIntyre’s glasses slipped forward a bit, half-moon spectacles.
Nora looked up at me.
My stomach started to roll. My palms felt sweaty.
I didn’t know if I should say no or yes.
Pastor Justin had looked at me in a way that made me uncomfortable.
“Rain?”
Looking around I swallowed. “Yeah?”
“Can you help or not?”
I found myself saying that I could, and Mrs. McIntyre offered me a grateful smile.
